Archive for the ‘Honda Ridgeline’ Category

Have you ever seen a front wheel drive car making a one wheel burnout? You have? Great! That’s the problem many manufacturers have been trying to circumnavigate or completely resolve on FWD cars. Not so much to deter you from making one wheel burnouts, but to make the car corner better and safer with putting down the power to the wheel that actually has some grip. The reason a FWD car (or any car for that matter) tends to send power to the wheel with least grip is the so-called open differential – a system designed to send power to the wheel with 50 percent of power reaching one wheel and 50 percent the other. However, as opposite wheels on cars must spin at different rates (like when cornering), the open differential cannot be locked, thus allowing for some extreme tendencies to send the power through the path of least resistance. Simply said – to the wheels with the least grip. Using this system saves a ton in R&D, the simple design of open differential makes it cheap to produce, and it doesn’t put too much strain on the various drivetrain elements. However, some tend to make fun of open diffs. “They are just like a one-wheel drive.” Is there any truth to this? After all, the power always goes to the wheel with the least resistance.

While an open diff works great in normal conditions (on a surface and in conditions that provide similar grip to both wheels,) more extreme circumstances (cornering fast, driving on slippery surfaces and the like) do limit its effectiveness fast. That is why manufacturers found a number of ways to circumnavigate these problems with mechanical means. Those cars using systems to defeat the limitations of open diffs are usually in the upper echelons of the car world, and I am presenting you nine of them.

The Honda Ridgeline really doesn’t get the love it deserves. It’s so hard for the Japanese truck to compete against the American big boys, but it certainly tries. After all, it wasn’t built for the same purpose as the Ram 1500,Silverado 1500, and Ford F-150. It’s built on a unibody construction that’s also shared with the Pilot and is actually designed to feel and drive like a crossover. Honda wanted to create a new niche here, but offering up a crossover with a bed, in a sense. Ideally, it would good for any purpose you want to throw at it, but it probably doesn’t have the strength of anything from the big three. That said, it’s still worthy of some love, and that’s why we’ve made it our wallpaper of the day.

The Ridgeline is completely new for 2017 and ushers in the second generation for Honda’s unibody pickup truck. It shares its underpinnings and a number of drivetrain and interior pieces with the Pilotcrossover, but it’s designed to offer more functionality than a crossover thanks to its cargo bed with less tradeoffs of a conventional body-on-frame pickup. But how does it work in the real world? Does this compromise between crossover and pickup really translate into a practical vehicle? To find out, I spent a week with the new Ridgeline and racked up nearly 1,600 miles.

In short, yes, the Ridgeline does offer a great truck-like experience for folks who might normally shop the crossover segment, but also for those who might need something to complete their weekend warrior project list. It boasts a maximum payload capacity of 1,588 pounds, so hauling mulch or firewood isn’t an issue. The bed is even wide and flat enough to haul 4×8 sheets of plywood or drywall. Yet at the same time, the Ridgeline drives like a crossover, gets respectable fuel mileage, and has a highly functional interior. But there’s more to this review than stating the obvious. Let’s get down to business.

Honda is using their expensive TV spot during Super Bowl 50 to promote the Ridgeline pickup truck. That’s what you do when you audience is mainly comprised of beered-up, testosterone-filled men who find their joy in shouting at football players on TV.

In this spot Honda showcases the Ridgeline’s handy dual-action tailgate and in-bed trunk, suitable for storing guns and ammunition in states that don’t allow open carry. We’re not so sure about the truck-bed audio system though, enabling music to play outside the truck. It makes the lambs sing, but we think everybody liked their silence better.

The ad is directed by Oscar-nominated director Bryan Buckley who has made over 40 “Big Game” commercials.

“Great Super Bowl spots are entertaining for the fans while communicating an essential value of the product, and we believe our Honda Ridgeline commercial accomplishes both objectives in dramatic fashion,” said Jeff Conrad, senior vice president and general manager of the Honda Automobile Division. “With so many truck buyers passionate about football, the big game is the perfect setting to introduce the all-new Ridgeline, and the distinctive features that make it the ultimate tailgating vehicle.”

Honda has successfully pulled off the classic switcheroo at the SEMA Auto Show, surprising everybody by unveiling the Ridgeline Baja Race Truck — an off-road racing truck that’s based off of the second generation Ridgeline pick-up. Why was this surprising, you ask? Well, Honda hasn’t released any images of the production Ridgeline, so we’re actually getting our first look at the new pickup, albeit in its off-road racing guise.

Built in conjunction with Honda Performance Development and the Proctor Racing Group, the Ridgeline Baja Race Truck won’t make into any dealerships any time soon. It will instead be used in the SCORE Baja 1000 where Honda’s four-wheeled racing outfit will return for the first time since 2012 when it ran a tube-framed Pilot to a third place finish in the Class Six Trophy trucks.

Judging by the development and preparations put into the Ridgeline Baja Race Truck, Honda is really setting its sights on once again taking the Mexican peninsula by storm. The truck itself is ready for action, which bodes well for Honda Racing considering the short turn around between SEMA and the start of the famed Mexican race on November 20, 2015.

Meanwhile, the production version of the Honda Ridgeline is scheduled to be unveiled sometime in the “first half of 2016.” A quick glance at the auto show calendar in that time frame seems to suggest that the second-generation pickup will likely make its debut at the North American International Auto Show in January 2016. It would make sense considering that the original Ridgeline made its own debut in the same event.

Continue reading to learn more about the Honda Ridgeline Baja Race Truck.